A safari tale in a Florida dog park

1. Out of Africa & Into the Dog Park
...Rottie-Style
By Tom Lloyd (USA)
Tom Lloyd spent most of the past few decades writing for I can't speak for all Rotties, but mine will chase a tennis ball
newspapers and magazines in the mid-Atlantic region. He and his almost as maniacally as he chases squirrels. He'll chase the ball
five-year-old rescue Rottweiler have a symbiotic relationship. Tom but he won't bring it back to you. He is a master of that "I'm not a
writes and Ben deals with critics. retriever, I'm a Rottweiler" look which is almost always followed
by the "If you want this ball, come over here and get it" look.
The problem is, toys of all kind are strictly banned in all Lake
County dog parks. Dogs get possessive about toys and Ben is
no exception. Unfortunately, 90% of the dog owners at these
parks ignore the toy rule. Just last week a woman with a big
black Labrador named Max entered a crowded dog park in Mt.
Dora, Florida with a bag of tennis balls and a tennis ball
launcher. I immediately grabbed Ben by the collar and moved off
to the far end of the park.
Predictably, within seconds, a dog pile of a dogfight broke out as
the Lab, a Boxer, a Heinz 57-variety and a pack of other
normally docile hounds fought tooth and nail (but mostly tooth)
for that damned ball.
It took the various owners quite a while to restore peace, and off
in the far corner of the park, some 200 meters away, Ben and I
watched. We both knew what was coming.
Ben
Once all the combating canines were separated, we heard it.
Long before Meryl Streep and Robert Redford starred in the Max's owner demanded to know who started the fight and the
movie version of "Out of Africa," I was carting my cameras all Boxer's owner proclaimed, "The Rottweiler must have started it."
across Kenya. These days I take my photo safaris in Lake
County, Florida. Now, Ben is a talented beast but not even he can start a fight
from 200
Instead of going from game park to game park, I now go meters away.
from dog park to dog park with my Rottweiler, Ben. Rottweiler
owners are
That's not as tame as it sounds. There is always at least a used to this, I
little danger on any safari. guess. I know I
am. In this
For starters, at 120 pounds, Ben is big. Yet for reasons I particular case,
cannot comprehend, small dog owners regularly bring their I was fortunate
10-12 pound animals into the large dog enclosures. enough to have
both witnesses
"It's okay," the pint-sized pets' owners will tell me, "Little who'd seen that
Sparky thinks he's a big dog." Ben and I were
nowhere near
Unfortunately, given the 110-pound weight difference, what the melee and
little Sparky thinks isn't important. What Ben thinks is. In photos of the
Ben's eyes, any fur-bearing mammal in that 10-pound fight itself. If I
weight class is probably some kind of squirrel and Ben hadn't, there's
lives to chase squirrels. More to the point, real squirrels no doubt in my
can scamper up tree trunks to get away from him. mind who
Pomeranians? Not so much. would have
gotten the
Then there's the stampede factor. Ben loves to run. Like a blame.
bull elephant trampling across the Serengeti, my
floppy-eared beast is pretty much oblivious to anything in So whether it's
his path. So even if little Sparky didn't get chased, he might in Kenya or Lake County, a safari is a safari. You have to keep
still get squashed. Flat. your mind as focused as your camera. You have to know how to
spot a potential problem and you have to be prepared for
Finally, there are the rules that get broken and the ensuing whatever may happen. Having pictures helps.
blame game.
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